More from Sam Simon Project

Just to clarify, NO, we are not having a baby and I wouldn't make that information public anyway. This is just some room inspiration to my friends who are having babies.

This is my favorite. I used to have a canopy too. I do believe that these canopies, namely the ribbons that were attached to them as decoration do act as a choking hazard.



We saw this peacock at ABC Carpet Store and it's gorgeous. I love it. They even adhered little crystals to the "eyes" of the tail.


I like how this one draws your eye up to the ceiling.

I have an affinity towards elephants. I loved elephants!



I really love this floral vine. It really draws the eye up.



My office (spare bedroom) has this bay window just like this. I was actually considering painting the walls a differnet color than the rest.


We like this dark wood furniture.

Weekend Recap - Visiting Dennis in NYC

We went to visit my brother this weekend in NYC and stay over at his new apartment. It was so much fun just to relax and hang out in the city before classes started. (Sorry, no pictures. I left my memory stick at home.) NJ Transit offered FREE rides to students all week, so it was perfect.

On Friday night, we went to Dallas BBQ in Chelsea. Keith is the BBQ fan, not me, but I have to admit it was really good and affordable. The portions are really large and most entrees were $16.99. We ordered the Full Wings as an appetizer that were really good. Between the 3 of us, we had ribs, steak, chicken, crab cakes, and a filet of fried catfish. Everything was really good. The crab cakes were full of crab, but I think I would've rather gone with the shrimp. The fried catfish was good, but not nearly as good as the fried catfish from Ms Tootsie's in Philadelphia. Everything at Ms. Tootsie's is fantastic!!!

The next day, we walked around and browsed all the shops near Grand Central Station and Union Square. Since we took the train in, it was so relaxing not to be bounded by our car. I wanted to check out the "chandelier" again at Olivier's & Co. It wasn't as impressive as when I first saw it years ago. I am making a note of it because someday, I'd like a scaled down version of the olive oil chandelier that Emeril has on his show. Maybe I can make one myself if I can't buy it. (You can see it in the window here on the right hand side)

We went down to Union Square where they have the open green market every Saturday. I went to visit Cherry Lane Farms; a friend of a friend owns the farm. I bought some of these Fairytale eggplant. Aren't they cute? We're going to skewer them and grill them. Now I am going to want to grow them next summer.

Then we had to stop at Paper Presentation, so I could pick up some stuff for our Christmas cards this year. The store has been "revamped" since I last visited. There were a lot more choices in scrapbooking embellishments, ribbon, and a wedding invitation consulting area upstairs. I am in love with their new mini tags. I was thinking of things I could make with them just so I could find a reason to buy them. But alas, we are on a budget and have to avoid buying "extras".

After that, we checked out a sleeper sofa at Jennifer Convertables that my brother wants for his apartment. It's crazy how small apartments are in NYC. We browsed all the shops around there for decorating ideas. He's going for a contemporary cream with black and red accent look. Sister to the rescue!

We went to Fishs Eddy and I gasped so loudly that I scared the lady next to me when I found these! Ceramic labels 6/$2.00 for my garden. I am going to run either a wire or ribbon through it and tag all my flowers and veggies! I am so excited about this.

I love all things Alice in Wonderland! We were already on our way out of Fishs Eddy when I spotted the collection. These are definitely going on my Christmas wish list!

Then I did a little Back to School shopping and by that time we were hungry again. My brother was in the mood for Minado (AKA To dai) in Koreantown, so we went there. We walked in and ROLLED out since we ate so much. Yummm We went back to my bro's apartment, watched MadTV and fell asleep. Overall, it was a VERY good weekend and it wasn't even over yet.

Sunday morning, we took the train back home. Keith had to go to work and I had the itch to clean. Every once in a while I get the itch to decorate or take on a new project. I rearranged the living room furniture to give it a "new" feel. The living room was too spread out before and we wanted it to be a little cozier to encourage newlywed affection! It's not my ideal living room arrangement (I hate things caddy corner), but for just 2 people, I think it works. Our living room has no solid walls (ie. window or opening in every wall), so that makes things really tricky. After 2 hours of playing doll house, vacuuming 10 times and dropping the tv on my legs OUCH! This is what I came up with.

Yes, Keith is playing video games and wouldn't move out of the way for my picture.

I moved the kitchen hutch/cabinet thingy out to the living room. The wood matches the coffee table and actually completed the look of the living room. It balances the room out so that the couches don't seem to be sticking out in midair.

The enclosed porch out front.

Our jade plant is doing much better thank goodness! Apparantly, it's telling of your financial situation. Let's just say that in the summer, it was shriveling up and thin. Now it's plumping back up. I hope that's good sign!

Time to empty out the fridge! I made soup with ground sausage, peppers, leeks, tomatoes, arugula, parsley, garlic and orzo. It was DEEEEELICIOUS!!! Everything but the sausage and leeks were from my garden.

Then at night, I just worked on our scrapbook some more and started my wedding shadow box. I am also working on framing 8x10's of all the places Keith and I have visited over the years. We were thinking of hanging them along the wall going up the stairs and progressing chronologically up the stairs. Unfortunately, the pictures of France and Italy are low resolution since we took those over 4 years ago. This week, I start classes so I'll be pretty busy until Christmas. I hope I can get to the rest of the gardening and fall decorating by this weekend.

Courtesy of Mrs. Tomato

"I was reading a Martha Stewart magazine on the plane a few weeks ago when I came across an advertisement for customizable tissue boxes. My first thought was, “What a cute wedding favor idea!” So I ripped the ad out and vowed to post it on Weddingbee. If I wasn’t married already, I would have figured out a way to incorporate them. But hey, maybe I’ll make some of these cuties for Christmas…

Read more… or Read more right here… »

Each oval-shaped box costs $4.99 each, though if you order in bulk (500+) the cost goes down a bit. Or just order a few to put in the guests’ hotel rooms, bathrooms, or in the ceremony area so the guests can use it to wipe their tears of happiness as you walk down the aisle!"

For more information, go here:

http://www.mykleenextissue.com/

Weeding

The OCD in me kicked in. I began weeding. Then I saw a weed under the deck. I pulled that out. Then I decided to crawl under the deck all together and weed a little more. While I was under there, I might as well keep going. Nah, I thought, I can't go that far. Well, I was like the energizer bunny and just kept going until I pulled every weed out from under the deck.


In other news, my HUSBAND made ribs last night! YU-UMM-MEE

Must stop looking at seeds

I told myself I wouldn't plant anymore veggies next year, but now that I have been looking at sites like John Scheepers Kitchen Garden, I want to try new veggies!

Keith really wants me to try growing Asparagus. It takes 3 years to develop a good plant before you should harvest it. Fall time is the time for Garlic so I can do that. I am tempted to try Brussel Sprouts. I definitely want to try Artichokes. Once started (in January), they grow as perennials! Nice! The snow peas and snap peas did very well, so I will plant lots of those again.

Then, there are also all these edible flowers. I really loved the way my snowball marigolds looked amongst my veggies. I just might try some of these edible flowers such as Nasturtiums, Dianthus and Violas. Nasturtiums and Dianthus were also on Martha Stewart's website. Blue Flax seems like another flower that would be very useful. It's a Perennial too and can just fill the "empty" areas of the garden.

Lessons learned:

-I dug too narrow an area for all my veggies. I have to dig an area 3x as wide in order to create the nice raised beds I need to space each plant out enough, provide support, and to allow Keith to mow the lawn around it without hurting my plants.

-One of my zuchinni and squash plants were so far from my other plants that it was never pollinated to produce fruit. Also, it made it difficult to water. We are adding a plastic order to our beds in order to edge the grass and contain the dirt. We have an old hose that we're going to puncture holes into, in order to water the plants more easily.

Time for Spring Bulbs

It's Fall!

I even changed the ribbon on my girl froggy!

Yup, time for spring bulbs. During the Fall is when you should be planting your bulbs for the Spring. It's also time for you to put down any compost so it's nice and rotted for the spring. We saved leaves from last Fall. If you love Peonies as I do, this is also the time to plant your bulbs or plants. Muscari, Crocus and Daffodils were on Martha Stewart's "Must Have" Spring bulb list. They are so pretty and they are always seen in her Weddings and Living magazines. The Anemone looked like an interesting flower and would add a different texture and color to the flower garden.

I started with this side of the house by weeding and pulling out the Pansies from the Spring. Pansies are annuals, which die and need to be replanted each year. After all that hard work, perennials are certainly far more worth the investment and time. They are more costly, but they multiply each year and only require a little maintenance during the spring and fall. Mums are also perennials and bloom in the Fall.

A little planning goes a long way. A first time gardener can easily get overwhelmed with all the things involved in gardening. Don't overwhelm yourself and buy lots of tools and flowers before you're ready. Plan your garden out and start with a small area. On a piece of paper, I quickly sketched my plan to remember where I planted bulbs. This way I won't run the risk of digging them up by accident during the spring. I mixed up the colors. Plant the taller flowers against the wall and the shortest ones along the border. I left room to fill more flowers in next year.

Now that it's cool out, we're working on shaping the area around the house, so that has more street appeal. Using a weed wacker/edger we "drew" the curve out. Then using a shovel, we dug the dirt up and shaped our mound. We thought it best to start now before the ground gets hard and it will be less work we have to do in the Spring. In the spring, we will add fresh dirt and peat moss.

My Plan: The idea is to have pretty Spring flowers that I can enjoy throughout the spring. The Crocus, Daffodil and Muscari bloom at different times during the spring. The Peony will bloom in the summer. The Mums and Dahlias bloom in the Fall. After the spring when all the flowers have bloomed, the green still remains and makes for a pretty landscape while I concentrate on the vegetables during the summer. When the vegetables begin to slow down, it will be time for the Fall flowers to bloom. Then I'll work on maintenance and prepping the soil again in the Fall for the Spring.

Dahlias and Calla Lilies: I am on the hunt for Calla lilies. We saw some beautiful wild ones in California and want to plant one to remind us of our trip. I have to order them from a catalog to get the ones I want. I went to Home Depot this weekend to see what was available. It seems I missed my opportunity to pick up the Peonies and Dahlias on sale. They can be found at 50% off in July usually during "off season". Store them in a cool, dark place until it's time to plant.

Breck's is a nice website where you can order your bulbs from Holland. I am thinking about ordering the English Bluebells, Waterlily Dahlias, and Lavender Mountain Lilies.

Now we just have to wait until Spring to see how I did!

Cupcakes!

Who doesn't love a cute cupcake? It's been a while since I have perused Martha Stewart's website. There are some really cute and yummy recipes in the Food section. For those DIY brides who are making their own cupcake wedding cake or shower favors, there are videos associated with most of the recipes from her show. There are even recipes on how to make your own meringue or marzipan cupcake toppers such as this pumpkin below.

For Fall brides, substitute the pumpkin for a leaf or two.
Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes - Perfect for the Fall. Recipe here.


Apple Cupcakes - Recipe here.


High Hat Cupcakes - Meringue frosting with chocolate coating. Recipe here.


Strawberry Buttercream - I love strawberries! Recipe here.


Oatmeal Raisen Cupcake - I love oatmeal raisen anything! Recipe here.


Toadstool cupcakes - Recipe here.


Spring Cupcakes - Recipe here.

How about orange blogged about a bridal shower she recently hosted. Check it out! It's noteworthy.

Her use of Martha Stewart's tissue paper pom poms.

I especially love the effort she put into this appetizer tray.

Roasted Shrimp and Orzo

You can never go wrong with the food channel! Barefoot Contessa, one of my favorite shows made roasted shrimp and orzo pasta that looked delicious that I had to try it this week. You can find the recipe here. This is one of those dishes that you can expand for a larger dinner party. It tasted so good that I am going to make it for my scrapbooking party.

The combination of the cucumber, feta, dill and shrimp just tasted so light and delicious!

You must try this! It was easy to make too!

I also like this Roasted Eggplant Spread with Pita. I just happen to have a TON of egggplant and peppers from my garden, so I tested this recipe out. I added both green and yellow bell peppers. Yellow ones are sweet. Green ones can taste bitter when roasted. I added tons of smashed garlic. We love garlic and it smelled so good in the house when it was roasting! Crazy thing, my bell peppers cross polinated with the chilli peppers and my bell peppers are now spicey!

Dice everything and drizzle with olive oil, course salt and pepper.

Roast it for 45 mins. It took me about an hour. Stir it once half way through.

When they are fully cooked, let it cool and place in a blender. Add lemon juice and tahini.

Because of the lighting in my kitchen, this looks like disgusting slop, but trust me it was really good. I think that's why it's a good idea to add Paprika to this because it will give it a red color so it looks more like a dip rather than vomit.

This was kinda a lot of work with the baking and blending. I wouldn't make it for just anybody. I have alot of organic and veggie only eating friends who did appreciate this. This isn't something you make for a Sunday football get together. Overall, very tasty, very filling, very healthy and worth the time.